Wednesday, September 8, 2010

On Pins, and Emergency Rooms

The Summer after my Sophomore year at SUU I worked my first year as a stitcher for the Utah Shakespearean Festival. It was amazing! I was working with professionals in my field of choice, and learning so much from them. The best part was that I was also working with my bestie Jared.

(I'm on the right)

Jared was, and still is, AMAZING! His design sketches were works of art, and the costumes he made....sigh!

I vividly remember watching him one day during the build of a show. He was at his machine, designers baby on one knee, sewing like a bat out of H3!! . He prided himself on the number of pins he didn't use. He could do anything, beautifully....without pinning!

For a long time I tried to be like him. Scant on the pins. Worked OK for some costumes, not so good on others.

That was 20 years ago and things have changed significantly! I no longer sport a permed 80's coif, either does Jared, and I love pins! I buy the pretty ones with the girly colored pearl heads. They hold everything in place so neatly.

That is, I loved them...... UNTIL......THE EVENT!!!

Last night, while innocently Tweeting and pinning a skirt, I stuck a pin in my mouth for a second....well, I was going to stick it in my mouth when it jumped down my throat! SERIOUSLY!!

It happened SO fast, and then it was gone. I swallowed a pin! Me. A 40 year old woman of 6 kids that is always yelling "Don't put that in your mouth! You might swallow it and then we'd have to take you to the hospital!"

I didn't want to go to the hospital! Everyone said I should...pooh. We went to the Emergency Room.

Lucky for me it was a fairly slow night there. We got right in. We had lots of attention (most of them couldn't figure out how you swallow a pin).

Had X-rays. Found the pin in my stomach. They called me out to see the X-ray. I didn't realize that you could see my underwire, hooks on my bra, rivets, and zipper. I got a kick out of it!

So, I'm thinking that they are going to tell me to go home, and let things work...themselves...out.

Nope. No such luck.

The ER Doc called the GI. The GI wanted to go in after it...............Doh.................... So they needed to do a Lavage to clear out my stomach.Lavage. Isn't it such a pretty sounding word? Lavage... like Massage.

Note: these two words have nothing in common.

If you don't know what an NG tube is, and have never had one put in...be glad. The Nurse tried to warn me that it was the worst thing that they have to do in the ER.

This is what it is like, but with coughing and gagging.
The Lavage is pumping water in through the tube, and then sucking everything back out.

The GI arrived and I was taken for a scope.
(This is the happy part of the story)They Gave Me Sleepy-Happy meds!
When I woke up they told me.............................
They didn't find the pin. Boo!

I was sent home to hopefully...... work things out on my own (sorry)
I get to go and have a couple more X-rays to make sure it is moving along. If not, or if it pokes or tears anything.....surgery. Bleh!

I hope you learn your lesson Jana. I STILL put pins in my mouth and that is almost 11 years after my hospital experience for swallowing a pin on Christmas Eve. After several hours in the ER, I demanded that they let me leave because it was on Christmas Eve and I had to go sing at church. They brought in the hospital attorney with documents for me to sign, stating that I left the hospital against their professional opinion. They told me to eat lots of rhubarb (YUCK!) because it is fibrous and wraps itself around bad stuff in your stomach. I had to go back few times to have more ultrasounds to track the pin, well actually it was half of a needle, but after 2 weeks they could not find it any more.There is more to the story but suffice it to say, the needle is gone and I still did not learn my lesson.I am glad you are ok.

OMG!!! How awful for you! I constantly put pins in my mouth, sometimes more than one. But after reading this I no longer will.I sure hope everything goes well for you and there will be no need for surgery.

having been one of those people you were chatting with last night... i was scared for you in the moment.. the moment when this was all happening.. and you didn't want to go to the hospital... and it took ALL of us telling you that you had to go to get you to go. i hope the pin makes its way out with no issues!

I was there with you last night too...at first I thought you were joking. When I realized you weren't, I got really worried. I'm glad that you went, even though you had to go through all that nasty stuff. I hope everything "comes out" ok... (sorry couldn't help it..now that we know you're ok) ;)

I can honestly say I will never ever put another pin in my mouth! I have been a habitual offender too.

HOLY CRAP that is crazy! You may actually have a holy crap if that pin gets to it;) haha. JK. Steve hated the tube up the nose bit and was pulling it out quicker than they could get it in. I think he may have thrown up on the nurse as well. Yuck! Hope it all goes through smoothly! Love you!

My good friend suzanne, who manages quilting cottage in american fork did that and it lodged in her throat. They couldn't get it out. She ended up with tons of complications and a PIC line to fight infection for 6 months. It was really a complete nightmare. My niece swallowed one too. It must be more common than we think. Good luck with it. Not fun.

I've been gone for a while so I didn't know you swallowed a pin. dang! I hold pins in my mouth all the time---eeeek! Not any more. How about an update...are you still whole or are you perferated? Hoping for the best!

How awful - but I was trying to hold back the laughter. I met a quilter in Brisbane who was suffering all sorts of neurological problems and they were investigating ever horrible disease. It turned out she had sat on a sewing needle and it had logged in her spine. After removal all was fine.

Holy crap! How are you doing now?Two slightly related stories. My daughter, unknown to us, swallowed a bandaid. We only found out when I saw Spiderman staring at me from a poopy diaper.And a friend blew out his knee at work (firefighter) when they took x-rays they found out he had a pin in his knee. He has no idea how it ever got in there, but it turns out it caused his knee problems. The lucky guy got his repair surgery fast though.Take care.

I sure hope it passes in the natural way and you will not need surgery. One of my friends who's a fashion designer and I were talking about sewing related accidents one day. He told me a girl in his class 'swallowed' a pin by accident but it got stuck in her throat (diagonally) At ER they told her they couldn't take it out unless they performed invasive surgery on her throat and the best thing to do was leave it. She says she still feels it every now and then when she laughs or coughs!!

I swallowed a pin while cutting out a formal dress in high school. My brother was watching a scary movie and a vampire jumped up. I gasped and down went a pin, a long pin with a purple head. I had to go to the doctor for three days in a row for x-ray. It passed with no problems. I never put pins in my mouth anymore!

Yuck! I swallowed a pin when I was 11. A little stick pin with a birdie on the end. Same events for me! They went in after it and couldn't find it. I had to use my sisters training potty for a few days... no fun!

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My original Patterns and Tutorials on this site are all (C) 2007 - 20012 by Jana Nielson, Lola...again!!! Feel free to make them for your own personal/non-commercial use. If you want to use them for classes etc. please contact me first at lolaagain@gmail.com